Monroe County hopes to get federal prisoners

ABERDEEN — Monroe County supervisors have told Sheriff Cecil Cantrell to work out a deal to house federal prisoners in the local detention center.

The Monroe Journal reports that Cantrell has been in informal talks the past eight or nine months.

“I feel like if we get the 50 prisoners we’ve requested, we could get $60,000 per month. We’re getting $20 a day for state prisoners, but could get $40 a day for federal prisoners plus $18.50 per hour for transporting them as far away as Oxford,” Cantrell said.

Cantrell said if a contract is approved, the county could enter into a 36-month contract at this rate and could re-negotiate terms after those three years. He said no new personnel would be needed.

Board president Billy Kirkpatrick stated space was his only concern. The Monroe County Detention Center can house 168 prisoners. Currently 92 prisoners are detained there, with 62 of those being state prisoners.

“We may pick up 200 people in a week and keep 10 of them because everybody else bonds out pretty quick,” Cantrell said.

Cantrell said the detention center has housed federal inmates for a day or two at a time for federal court dates in Aberdeen in the past.